"Every power has its own dynamics, its own domineering, expansionist tendencies, its bullying obsessive need to trample the weak. This is the law of power, as everyone knows. But what can the weaker ones do? They can only fence themselves off, afraid of being swallowed up [...]"
Cards, Faces, Fields of Flowers, p. 9

"But apart from his cruelty, greed, and outlandishness, the old Shah [Reza] deserves credit for saving Iran from the dissolution that threatened after the First World War. In his efforts to modernize the country he built roads and railways, schools and offices, airports and new residential quarters in the cities."
Daguerreotypes: Photograph 3, p. 24

"Such a man [Doctor Mossadegh] can't be erased from people's memories; so he can be thrown out of office but never out of history. The memory is a private possession to which no authority has access."
Daguerreotypes: Cassette 1, p. 33